Beauty #2 (1965)

Seduction Most of what Warhol does for me is of the “oh, I get it” variety of art, where a statement is supposed to trigger an insight and the insight is the art. Its an indirection of agency, and wears out its effect quickly. But sometimes it connects deeply, and this does. You might see… Continue reading Beauty #2 (1965)

Barbarella (1968)

Which Skin? There are only a few films that can be called roots. 1968 generated two of them, “2001” and this. “2001” is about the ambiguities of who is narrating. This is about the ambiguities of where the skin is. From the very beginning, the prurient peeling of the spacesuit, to the marvellous suits she… Continue reading Barbarella (1968)

Apartment (1960)

Mechanical I have just had quite an argument with a well known film critic. He maintains that films are either good or bad and any good film is just simply good. I maintained that films are little worlds. Some are created more successfully than others. Some are more novel or clever or valuable than others.… Continue reading Apartment (1960)

Alphaville (1965)

Reduced Time gives us great advantages. One of these is that we can see art in terms other than the artist used in creating it. The French New Wave was an interesting and timely set of cinematic ideas that were burdened at the time by clumsy theory and some frankly moronic critics. Now we can… Continue reading Alphaville (1965)

Murder Ahoy (1964)

Jerry Lewis’ Mutiny The good: well it has a jaunty theme song. At least it honors the original form in that the order we see things in is roughly the order of discovery by the detective. By this entry in the series, they had seriously lost their way. What genuinely started out as detective stories… Continue reading Murder Ahoy (1964)

Goldfinger (1964)

Two Zeros This is the best of the Bonds, in part because the action/gizmo genre was so young. In those days — hard to believe — this was smart humour, was sexy and thrilled. Now it is merely of historical interest only. Worse, there are franchises that one can watch and really get a lesson… Continue reading Goldfinger (1964)

Seven-Up! (1964)

This did not start as a folded adventure. It is a quite ordinary TV documentary. But it became so in later installments by Apted, where the interviews are largely about how the films affected their lives.